Death in the Family
by Thalia the Showgirl
Summary: This is my first attempt at fanfiction! I'm not telling you what's gonna happen coz that'll ruin it!
1. Mush's thoughts (ahhh Mush!! No sorry......

Chapter One  
  
  
Mush awoke early on that unusually cold morning, he stretched and yawned then sat up and swept back the few stray bits of his dark hair that had fallen forward in the night. As he blinked a few times to wake himself properly he caught a glimpse of the light creeping through the gap in the curtains and casting itself upon the bunks where his friends lay still asleep. He sat back, leaning against the wall behind his pillow, intending to make the most of the silence that proceeded the early morning chaos when the others woke. He reflected on the events of the last few weeks…'the calm after the storm' was how he termed it, the slow return to the daily routine of selling papes. The strike had been an experience, of course, although it was a relief to return to selling the news with his mates he did miss the feeling that he was more than a simple street rat. He had loved the power, the excitement that he got, standing up to the big guys. Even he had been shocked at how much the newsies had stuck together; it had been great really, now he felt that he had a real family that would stick by him whatever. Just as well he supposed, he had no one else...  
He was woken from these reflections by Race muttering in his sleep ''come on, you can do it...just a bit further...yes...good...horse...good''   
Now that was beyond belief, it was bad enough that Race spent his whole life thinking about some kind of racing (hence his name) without him dreaming about it as well, he couldn't really say that is was that much of a surprise though. Race always made him laugh. He sat up and pulled his sheets around him, it really was cold, great, a whole day of freezing whilst screaming headlines. Maybe he'd try to sell with Jack today, otherwise they'd probably both be alone. Davie had been Jacks selling partner but after the strike he had been offered a job through Denton to write for 'The Sun' in a section about rights, morals and the other stuff that interested David. Les had gone off to school, Sarah had fulfilled her dreams, she'd travelled all the way to England and last they heard she had been employed as a governess for a wealthy family. She's never been properly educated herself but she'd learnt a lot from David. It was the general view of the newsies that Sarah and Davie had taken up these opportunities to escape from the cruelty of newsboy life. The whole Jacobs family had been very involved in the strike and had supported Davie and the others so much. It was probably a lot to do with the sad death of Les, a short time after the strike finished...It had been too much when Les had died. It had been so sad, he had caught pneumonia and had been too weak to fight it. Esther and Mayer had moved to England with Sarah. So that was the news on the Jacobs family. None of them would ever recover from Les' premature death but only Davie had stayed in New York. He was still in touch with the newsies, he came to the lodging house ever few nights to see his old mates. Then there was another tragedy; Jack had been hurt badly when Sarah left, he had left for several days at a time just to be alone. But he'd pulled through it with the help of the newsies, another thing they'd stuck together through.  
Well, time to get some work done, the other guys were stirring and it'd make a change to be able to get ready without being trampled by the other rushing guys. He got up and dressed quickly. As he was putting his hat on he heard someone wake behind him. He turned his head and saw Blink jumping down from his bunk.   
"Hey, sleep well?" mush whispered,   
"Yeah, not bad" shouted Blink. This was greeted with a couple of angry shouts from Race and Jack who were not too happy at being woken, Race jumped out of his bunk and covered the floor then attacked Blink from behind and messed up his hair. Blink lost his balance and fell forward and the two of them fell on the floor in a heap just as Kloppman entered.   
"Gerrup you lot, youse got work to do. Papes to sell, come on, come on, carry the banner" he said in his low growl of a voice, numerous groans where the response, the morning ritual of him going to each of the bunks in turn and hassling its occupants into waking up began.  



	2. News for the Newsies (heehee, bad I know...

Chapter Two  
About half an hour later they were all running down the street towards the distribution centre. They were messing around, pretending to fight each other, Race was talking to an obviously oblivious Skittery about whether 'lucky seven' or 'ace of hearts' would be a better horse for him to put his money on. He used to use the tips to get 'The Weasel' to give him papes but the new guy wasn't so easy, sure he was a nicer guy but he was against gambling, and that definitely didn't make Race one of his fans. Bumlets and Specs were at the back of the group of boys; they hummed 'Carrying the Banner' as they went, trying desperately to keep warm. All of the newsboys were wrapped up in every piece of clothing they could find, it was November and winter was definitely catching New York in its grasp.  
As it turned out, Jack was selling with Race; Mush was going with Bumlets and Skittery. When the three of them had got their papes they sat on the edge of the Horace Greeley monument and skimmed the stories. There were a few things on the front two pages about some crazy maniac who'd murdered a few people in Brooklyn, and then there were some stories about politicians and what they were saying at the moment. Then there was a mass of other rumours about the private lives of various important people. Mush flicked back through the first couple of pages and then saw an article that he'd missed on page two. For a few minutes he couldn't make his voice work because of the shock, then he finally caught his breath and his voice and said in little more than a whisper to Bumlets   
"Here, have a look at this" Bumlets stared at the spot that Mush's finger was gesturing to. His response was pretty much identical to Mush's. After a few seconds he said in a whisper   
"Well I guess that money ain't everything then, why such a small article though? That should be front page, he owns the stupid pape!"  
"Well I guess that maybe they thought it wouldn't sell as many, maybe the words weren't catchy enough" said Mush, remembering what Jack and he had discussed about 'catchy' words only a couple of nights before.  
They sat up and Mush opened his mouth and shouted to a group of men in suits   
"Pulitzer in hospital, doc give'im a week".  
It was a hard day, not just cold but each of the newsies felt a pang of guilt, it was well known that the old boss of the 'World' newspaper had had a hard time of things since the strike. People weren't happy at all about the treatment that the boys had had and they all blamed him. To some extent that wasn't fair, not everything was his fault but that was the way those things worked. 


	3. Pride (and a little santa fe input)

Chapter Three  
  
Despite the hatred that each of the newsboys felt towards 'old man Pulitzer' the lodging house was very quiet that evening. Race had won on his horse that day but he was still sombre and sat on a box in the corner kicking a pile of ropes that lay on the ground, he had a look of complete concentration on his face, his brow was screwed up and he didn't speak. The newsboys that were there sat like this for some time. It seemed to have hit Jack the hardest, no surprise really, he was a really kind hearted person and it hurt him a lot to see that he could have contributed towards causing this. As always though, he bottled his feelings, saved them for when he was alone. Later that evening when only Race and Mush remained up, sitting in the corner talking for the first time about the days events, they heard Jack singing quietly from the other side of the door that they sat by.   
"Santa Fe, are you there..." he began, then they heard him begin to cry, they knew that they couldn't go and comfort him, it would hurt his pride too much, he'd never forgive them. None of them slept well that night; Mush could tell that although they all lay with their eyes shut, they weren't asleep, just thinking. Next morning they were all up before Kloppman came through. He had heard the news and just decided that it was best to leave it be and act normally. He came in to hurry them as usual, saw them standing there silently, then he left, murmuring something about going to get a drink. 


	4. The family (aww, it's a Davie chapter!!)

Chapter Four  
  
Another day of hard work followed, they sold many more papes than usual, quite apart from the ideas that the 'World' seemed to have had about the appeal of this story the city was as intrusive as usual. Although many people pretended that they did not feel any sorry for the old man, it was unlikely that any of them really meant it. They could cover their feelings though, pretend they weren't there; this was probably because they had things to do, people to speak to. They spent the whole day telling people about it. The newsies only had each other in the wide majority of cases and that meant, in a situation like this one, that the issue was thrust into their minds a lot. Later that evening they were all listening to Race talk, completely half hearted, about his day at the track, all that is except Jack. It was not anything out of the ordinary of for newsies to disappear for a few days, perhaps to visit friends in Harlem or Queens but they were all silently worried about the fact that Jack was out late. They didn't expect him to return that evening and they just hoped that he only wanted some time to think. In the middle of all these thoughts Davie burst in his work clothes,   
"Hi you guys" he said "I just came from work". Mush muttered a "hey" but he was one of the few who did. Davie stared at the newsboys and then sat down on the edge of race's bunk. He picked a paper that lay on the small cupboard where Race put his cigars. He saw that it was yesterday's copy of the 'World' newspaper. He didn't read it; he just lightly ran his fingers over the Bold lettering of the printed headlines then pressed them down to slightly smudge the ink. It was then that he realised what he felt about the whole Pulitzer issue, he'd had a lot to think about over the last two days with work. He had heard about the story of course but not really thought, until now. He knew that he felt some guilt too, he tried to hide it though, he knew in his heart that the strike had been the right thing to do. His brow caved into a surface of deep creases and that meaningful look that the newsboys were all so familiar with appeared once more. They knew that he was thinking and none of them made any attempt to stop him. It was as if they had a silent agreement within the group, they had all witnessed him develop several solutions to problems in this way before and although they felt that that was impossible in this case they remained silent yet hopeful, more out of habit than anything else. David's bright blue eyes were like the centre of a flame and they bored into the hearts of many of the newsboys now as he focused, unblinking on a wooden sword that lay discarded on the floor, it looked very similar to the one that Les had treasured. One of the younger newsies must have left it there. As they all watched him in solemnity they saw something that they'd never seen before, something that was almost beyond belief. A single crystalline tear formed in the reddened corner of his right eye and slowly crept down his cheek. He made no attempt to wipe it away, just let it fall, maybe he wasn't aware of it, he just leant forward, his soft curls of hair cascading over his forehead. The newsboys were obviously   
daunted. They had been at Les' funeral and David had not cried then yet now he had lost that control that he always maintained. Finally he spoke, in little more than a whisper, reminiscent of the voice he had used after Denton had almost left them when he had urged them not to trust anyone but newsies, yet without the power and fire he had spoken with then and as he spoke it became obvious that he didn't believe what he said any more than he expected the others to; "Look, we can't blame ourselves for this, right? Pulitzer would have seen us die in the streets and not have lifted a finger, he didn't care, why should we care about him?"   
"Cause I guess we're better people than him Dave" said a small voice from the doorway, Davie turned quickly to face the door, and stared into the eyes of the figure who stood there. "Jack" was all that he said, yet the relief in his voice was obvious, once again Jack had spoken Davids views with the courage ,or stupidity as some called it, that David just didn't have . Every one of the newsboys in that room breathed a silent sigh of relief, Jack was still their leader and they needed him to be strong. "Well cowboy" said David "guess you're smarter than me then, you always were the sympathetic one" "Nah, I'm not smarter than you, never". With that Jack sat next to David and after a few seconds of nervous glances around the room one by one the newsboys came to sit as near to them as they could. They felt closer then than they ever had done even in the strike and more than one of the newsies shed tears during the time they sat like this. It was so long, minutes turned into hours, they just cried and   
whispered about how they felt. It was very late when Davie stood up and walked out of the door, it closed then opened again, his head appeared around it, "Carrying the banner" he said and he closed the door carefully. 


	5. Mush is such a sweetie!!! and Davey bein...

.Chapter Five  
Mush woke up with a headache, again. He had sat there with the others last night, thinking, shocked at the irony of the situation. The man who they had thought about, cried for, almost felt some kind of love for, was the one man who's views had conflicted so much with theirs. It had fuelled them with the passion that had given them the courage to stand up to him and stick to what they believed in, to risk everything. That was a power much bigger than that of the press that Pulitzer talked of so much. Over and over again the thought recurred in his head, but this was the old man dat wanted us dead! But then he would recollect again, no, Jack was right. We are better than him. This was their chance to prove it. They had to show Joe the sympathy that he wouldn't show them.  
As the teenage newsboy sat there Davey also sat awake in his small apartment next door to the offices of the Sun. The maturity of those boys never failed to amaze him. They were still children but they were not naïve, they had no chance to be. So many of their hopes had been shattered, their dreams crushed, they had learnt quickly to expect nothing and not get disappointed. Oh well, it was for the best in their situations. He lay back and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't quite sure when his troubled thoughts became his troubled sleep but he woke up the next morning, blinking into the light, with the same worries running constantly through his head. He had woken up with the songs that his mother used to sing him to sleep with in his head. That had made him feel better, he put this constant act on all the time, he could only break down when he was by himself.  
Mush still lay awake, he couldn't sleep with this on his mind. He was famous for being an idealist, he was the hopeful one. He knew that some people just thought he was gullible but he just had a genuine belief that things would get better. Maybe because they couldn't get any worse. Well he wasn't getting any sleep like this. He slid out from under his covers and landed on the floor, shuddering as the cold floor touched his feet. He made a decision, he was going to go and see Pulitzer, it seemed so scary but he had to do it before the guy died.  



	6. The end, finally...more Mush exposure I'...

It had seemed so easy to make that decision the night before, but now, as he knocked on the door of the infirmary where the papers had told him Pulitzer was being looked after it seemed a whole lot harder. He wasn't sure if he'd get in but he had to try. He's sneaked into the building through a side door, luckily he hadn't come across anyone so far. This was all so strange to him, he'd never been in a hospital before, it was quite daunting really. A sickly smell was everywhere and he didn't like it much. A woman of about forty came to the door  
"Hello young man"  
"Umm...Hello" said Mush, not knowing what to tell her  
She looked at him patiently and waited for him to say something  
"I'd like to see Mr Pulitzer...please"  
"I'm sorry, that won't be possible" she said and started to close the door, well he'd tried his best, they wouldn't let him in, he sighed and turned back down the corridor. A tall man with a moustache came round the corner. He approached Mush, he looked upset.  
"Hello, aren't you a newsboy?"  
"Umm...yes" said Mush, this was getting stranger  
"Do you know Jack Kelly? It's important" this worried Mush, he didn't trust the guy  
"No, nevah hoid of him, why?"  
"It's important, are you sure" Mush didn't say anything, he had no idea what to say.  
"Come with me, please" said the man. Mush followed him back in the way he'd come from to the room he'd been trying to get into. They entered into a room that had the same smell and dull walls. He followed him up to a bed in the far corner of the room, lying on it was a figure that Mush recognised as Joseph Pulitzer. The other man spoke to him briefly then he left Mush alone with the man.  
"Sit down boy, I have something to tell you" Mush sat down, this was so strange  
"I haven't got long left. I haven't told many people this, I'm afraid" it scared Mush how weak he looked, what he was saying seemed so unbelievable, so impossible  
"I need to make amends what I can, I want your friend Jack to have the World" Mush was starting to get alarmed, the other man had come into the room. Mush turned around to look at him, the figure on the bed behind him was breathing so faintly, and he looked so weak. Mush had always believed that things would be better someday but at that moment he felt such a pain in his heart, maybe nothing would change, maybe it would always be this bad. The man walked up to him and began to cry, it was so surreal. The man explained to him that Pulitzer had left everything to Jack, he had no idea why but the old man had said he was afraid of what might happen to him in the next life. He couldn't take it all in, Jack? Owning the World newspaper, that couldn't happen, could it? But it had...it was so strange, nothing would be the same again, things were going to change, but for the better? That was still to be determined...  
  
  
(Yes, that is the end...I'm not sure if I'm too happy with the last bit but I might rewrite it at a later date...Thank you for reading it lol!)  



End file.
